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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28934907">You Don't Know What You've Got Until You're Gone</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/fecklesstellurian/pseuds/fecklesstellurian'>fecklesstellurian</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Amphibia (Cartoon)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>??? - Freeform, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Coping, F/F, Gen, I don't know where I was going with this one but I wrote it one day and passed out, Lady Olivia being a mom, Marcy being a sad sapphic, OH HEY FIRST FANFIC ON AO3, also uhm hc for whatever i apparently wrote for lady olivia, lady olivia and marcy bonding, no beta we die like men, otherwise enjoy my unedited rambling!, post-S2E10, though if this does gain attention i will actually go in and edit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 14:26:59</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,175</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28934907</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/fecklesstellurian/pseuds/fecklesstellurian</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>“You can tell me what’s bothering you. I could offer any advice that you may need-"</p><p>“Do you know how to cope with someone leaving you?”</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Anne Boonchuy/Marcy Wu</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>129</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>You Don't Know What You've Got Until You're Gone</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Title is from "In Memoriam" by The Oh Hellos, thought it fit the mood :))</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Lady Marcy? The King awaits your presence in the dining hall.”<br/>
A servant had knocked on her door, announcing dinner. Eyes burning a little from the lack of sleep, or maybe dryness, the Chief Ranger simply blinked twice to snap herself out of her workflow. Her eyebrows furrowed and relaxed, then calling back, “It’s ok! Just bring me more water and some of that new Newtopian snack from the pantry.”</p><p>There was another knock before Marcy could fully turn back to her work and she groaned internally a little. The huge Newtopian doors creaked open slowly, revealing Lady Olivia with an unreadable expression on her face. </p><p>“Lady Marcy, you’ve already missed evening tea. Come, you must be hungry.”</p><p>“I-it’s ok. Just wasn’t hungry awhile ago, I guess…” She rubs the sleep out of her eyes. <i>Food does sound good.</i></p><p>“You have never missed evening tea unless something important came up. I don’t recall any immediate projects that need attending to.”</p><p>“I- yeah, I just wanted to make some improvements, had a lot of good ideas in mind. You know me, gotta write it all down before I forget in a blink!”</p><p>“Hm.”</p><p>Marcy dropped her attempt at a smile in an attempt to ward off suspicion, but the princess did not look one bit convinced. THe teen just sighed and rested her head back on her left hand, her right absent-mindedly scribbling on the decorated blueprints that flooded her table. A new bridge mechanism. Pipe system improvements. Possible designs for a new outer layer of wall. Land-zone plans. </p><p>Amidst all the eye-catching sketches and calculations, Olivia saw her eyes trail along the large map of Amphibia lining the wall above the small table. She hadn’t even changed out of her cloak yet. </p><p>The sun had pretty much set, with only the very last rays of sunset left to illuminate the darkening room. Lady Olivia reached over to turn on a nearby mushroom lamp, quickly composing herself before she spoke, “Is there something wrong, Lady Marcy?”</p><p>A muffled grunt was all the response she got. Lady Olivia pursed her lips slightly, approaching the hunched-over teen. “You can tell me what’s bothering you. I could offer any advice that you may need-“</p><p>“D-do you know how to cope with someone leaving you?”</p><p>The newt princess raised her eyebrows slightly at the interruption, but wasn’t surprised by the response. “Is this about Lady Anne?”</p><p>“N-no. Just something back home that I was thinking about, that’s all.”</p><p>Unconvinced again, but she continued her answer anyway. “Well, you may not know this but my mother passed away when I was about your age. I… doubt it’s the same thing you’re referring to, but I think the feeling of loss is all the same.”</p><p>The hooded teen sat up a little straighter but didn’t turn around. </p><p>“It… wasn’t her passing that hurt the most per se, it was everything before it. When she suddenly came down with an onset of her symptoms, they would rush her away and as a young newt I wasn’t able to go and visit. Sometimes she’d be away so long, I’d wonder if she had forgotten about me. These times, to get my mind off of things, I escaped to the royal library, read every book I could get my hands on. Studied etiquette. Family tradition. Something to remind me of her but vague and mind-numbing enough to get the thought out of my head.”</p><p>Marcy had fully turned around now, empathy evident in her tired eyes though she was not looking at Lady Olivia. The princess looked up again, her gaze had fallen to the floor in her mini-speech, and cleared her throat.</p><p>“Ahem… what I meant to say is that in the end, I felt better once I found out and admitted to myself why I was feeling that way. That I was worried that my mother would leave and not have any image of me. I constantly strived to be the best around her, because that was the lasting image I wanted her to leave it. If any, at all.”</p><p>She reached forward and patted the cloaked shoulder in front of her. “So, perhaps it may help if you talk about what could be on your mind.”</p><p>Marcy’s gaze lifted again to meet Lady Olivia’s, the newt now offering a softer, kinder expression than she had usually seen. Part of her wanted to turn back and dismiss it all together, but there were already words bubbling up in her throat.</p><p>A small, weak “Why?” escaped her before she could think of anything else.</p><p>“Why what, Lady Marcy?”</p><p>“Why did she leave me again? She said she didn’t want to lose me again, so why did she leave me behind?”</p><p>The usually-responsive newt said nothing, and pulled Marcy into a side hug.</p><p>“Why… I’ve been her friend for almost 3 years now… we’ve only been here a few months but did she…,” Marcy chuckled weakly, “heh, replace me with some frogs?”</p><p>“She didn’t replace you, dear. She thinks fondly of you, I see it.”</p><p>“It’s not enough if she looked so miserable staying behind with me.”</p><p>“She is attached to the Plantar family, that’s all. It’s nothing between you and her.”</p><p>“I’m worried about that too. Back home, she always looked out for me. Now that I can take care of myself, did she take that as her cue to leave me? That that’s all we were?”</p><p>“I think you’re misreading the situation. Lady Anne has mentioned several times how proud she is of your progress—“</p><p>“I know.”</p><p>“And you and Lady Anne will reunite for the first temple. You will still be friends, there’s nothing more to it.”</p><p>“Yeah… nothing more.”</p><p>Marcy had turned away slightly, prompting Lady Olivia to speak again. </p><p>“Is there something-“</p><p>“I’ve had friends in the past. ‘Friends’, I don’t know. But I know what it’s like to have a friend leave you,” her voice wavering a bit.</p><p>The princess just kept holding her, rubbing small circles in her back to soothe the ranger’s slightly shaking form. She heard her breathing become shakier. </p><p>“T-then wh- t-then why does this feel w-worse? I-it doesn’t make sense, I should be happy that she’s happy with the Plantars but I-I just- it’s like something’s eating at me, but I don’t know what- or why- and it- it is- it doesn’t make ANY sense- her decision doesn’t m-make any sense i-if she c-cared enough about m-me- NONE of it m-makes s-sense, a-“</p><p>A full embrace cut off her ramble, her weakened form shaking and her breaths irregular and shaky. She stared down the back of the intricate dress, blinking her eyes and seeing teardrops fall. She didn’t even know she was crying.</p><p>“Let it out. There’s nothing worse than holding this all inside you, you hear?” She just cried harder into the newt’s shoulder.</p><p>They just stayed in that position until the last of the sun’s rays left the horizon, plunging the room into the colder light of the lone mushroom lamp on.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hello! This is my first fanfic on this site and for Amphibia, so if pacing/characters are weird, I apologise, heh. Anyways, let me know what you thought of it, and maybe I'll write more for Amphibia, maybe I won't. Also I haven't read through this properly myself so another apology for any mistakes!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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